Waterbury evening Democrat., 1887-12-12
LABOR IN CONNECTICUT.

dients of facts, are replete With IallacleS. We had thought that the main product, if not purpose, of the returns would be the qualification of the curiosity of the profes- sors of the Gradgrind school-those fire side philosophers great with the pen; but we find a new use of the compilation of the Commissioners has been seized upon; and that the reported small excess ot the workman's expenditure over wages is made the basis of a high and weighty charge ot improvidence if not of extravaganza.
 Our New York contemporary, the Times" is ordinarily-albeit it's marked advocacy of Capitalist claims-what, in sort of newspaper looseness of language is called a clean sheet It will not sully it's columns with conscious wrong to the poor mans character or interests; nor in it's efforts for the promotion of the party of it's predilec- tion descend to the misrepresentation of a class already too much misrepresented and mis used In it's issue of Satur- day the ''Times" condescends to take casual glance over it's own border land into our State of Connecticut; and 1t claims that there must be something radi- cally wrong in the domestic economy of our working people if they are to be fairly judged as class by the forty-six families, the statistics of which have been gathered by the State Commissioner. According to this report, as we published in the second issue of the DEMOCRAT, the income earned by these forty-six families during the month of October was $2, 475.36 or 8 daily allowance for each family of STA. During the same month the expenses of these families amounted to $2,760.39, or daily rate per family of $1.96. There is not any statement to indicate how the additional g cents day of expenditure came into possession of the particular families in dulging in the extravagance-wheth it was actually paid or represents an accumu- lated debt incurred-or indeed whether the returns on which the statistics are made were true representations of the workmen's condition or merely concocted to show that they are not fairly paid for their labor. The ''Times" admits that to certain extent they do establish this last named proposition; but qualities the sym pathetic admission by the charges of bad management in domestic affairs; adding the counsel of living within income by the elf-evident maxim that the man who earns but $1. "A day and allows himself to live at the rate of $1 .96 will always be poor.
 The Times position is fanciful and falla- cious. No approximate estimate can be formed of the workman's wage and ex- penses over whole State by the circum- scribed returns from the forty six families; no one can judge whether the excess of expenditure over income ranges over all the forty-six in distributive share, or is merely the indications of special extrav- agance in special families. There are no means by which to judge whether the alleg- ed forty-six reports are all or any of them genuine representations of facts; and there fore we repeat that the Statistics so far are not only misinforming but misleading: enabling capitalists and capitalist organs to '.point the moral and adorn the tale' of the unworthiness of the working classes
 Our friend of the Times-and the inter. US he upholds-can, we suppose, bear the
 ions of the workingman's home by proxy. W1esS"gives the workingman al STA day a right to expect for his house hold any of the comforts of humanity? Ii illness comes, doctors and drugs should bt an unthought of expenditure; tht lowest quality and smallest quantity of food should surely content thu toiler in mine and factory-on rail O. river; in the rigors of the winter time fue should be an undreamt of luxury and wifi and children should go shoeless in orde that the millionaire should amass nor millions. The subject will not bear humor but joke is sometimes pointedly illustra tive. The old song:-
 How happy the soldier who lives on his pay,
 And spends eighteen pence out of six pence day is in point with the Crimes" idea of extrav .agance of spending twenty-two cents da in excess of the pay of the workers-Ther is no ruch radical wrong in the domesti
 
 the report are fanciful if not decidedl fallacious, and when next our esteeme contemporary turns his thought hithe1 ward it would be well if he could give tn Statistics of Capital; showing how muc the rich man realized by grinding his de pendent workmen-how in the case of tn capitalist there was none of the terrib] necessity of exceeding income by outlay i order that house might be kept over hi head-and how the one fared sumptuousl every day while the others outside his gate toiled on starvation pittance to provide tn princely surroundings.
 ANOTHER WORD OF HOPE.
 Our experimental days have passed, an this evening we commence the second wee